The survey has been conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago since 1972, as a means of monitoring societal change and studying the 'growing complexity' of society.

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The report found that 23 percent of adults - nearly one in four - said they had not had sex in the past year, with a large number of them being '20-something men', according to the Washington Post.

Some young adults had not had any for even longer, with the report adding: "The portion of Americans 18 to 29 reporting no sex in the past year more than doubled between 2008 and 2018."

The stats come from the University of Chicago's biennial General Social Survey. Credit: PA

While 29 percent of young men admitted to abstaining from sex for a year, the figure sits at just 18 percent for women aged between 18 and 30.

Jean Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University, believes one of the reasons so many young males aren't having sex is because they don't live with their other half.

She explained to the Washington Post: "There are more people in their twenties who don't have a live-in partner.

"So under those circumstances, I think less sex is going to happen...

"When you're living at home it's probably harder to bring sexual partners into your bedroom."

But Twenge also believes the rise of technology could be a potential factor as to why 20-somethings are having less sex, saying: "(There are) more things to do at 10 o'clock at night than there were 20 years ago."

Like what, you may ask? Well, you can probably guess - Twenge explained people could be swerving sex in favour of 'streaming video, social media, console games' and 'everything else'.

Twenge lists potential factors like streaming videos, social media, and playing on console games. Credit: PA

Along with the birds and the bees, the GSS questions cover a broad spectrum of topics, such as (deep breath) crime and punishment, race relations, quality of life, generosity, confidence in institutions, high-risk behaviours, work values, human values, national spending priorities, workplace conflict, volunteering, religious identity, the environment, transition to adulthood, religious literature, participation in the arts and racial identity.

"Other special topics addressed in the 2018 data include mental health stigma, the quality of working life, attitudes regarding abortions, self-assessments of physical and psychological health, and the role of the natural environment in people's lives," said René Bautista, senior research scientist in the Statistics and Methodology department at NORC and co-director of the GSS.

Jess Hardiman

Jess is a journalist at LADbible who graduated from Manchester University with a degree in Film Studies, English Language and Linguistics - indecisiveness at its finest, right there. She also works for FOODbible and its sister page Seitanists, which are both a safe haven for her to channel a love for homemade pasta, fennel and everything else in between. You can contact Jess at [email protected]